Thursday, October 20, 2011

It's been a while

So it's been a couple of weeks since I posted my last pipe, but do not fear I am not totally inactive. So here is the run down.

I am currently working on three different pipes. One is a commissioned piece in the Wizard series that will be totting a stem I made. The other two are just new designs I wanted to try out.

I accumulated a 1" wide upright belt sander. This will come in handy to finish forming some of my pipes but will be especially helpful in forming the stems I am starting to create.

I sold the Sexton's Churchwarden through a tobacco shop. Tewksbury is where I usually go for my tobacco. It's a great little tobacco shop which also sells wine and fly fishing trips. They have several of my pipes on their shelves on commission and it is so exciting to see long time pipe smokers admiring them and now even buying them.

I have turned several cups and several stems on the lathe. It has been great to learn more about turning, as it gives me more options with stems.

I have made a couple template pipes. These are pipes I make out of American Hardwoods (cheap) and I smoke to try to work out particularly difficult designs. It allows me to have smoked and cleaned a pipe a customer might ask about. It also lets me sample different wood flavors.

1 comment:

I dig the cup and will probably have to add that to my eventual fancy gift box comission.

As a ceramic artist with a history of cup making I have one important suggestion: don't let the foot of the cup terminate at the table. Carve some small recess at the point it meets the table which allows for a small shadow to cast and gives a certain sense of levity to the cup, making it feel less heavy.

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St. John Kemble was a Jesuit priest in England for 54 years until he was arrested during the reign of Charles II. He was accused of plotting to remove the Charles from the throne inorder to promote a Catholic King. When they found no evidence of the plot he was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for being a priest and celebrating the Mass.

At the hour of his execution he convinced under-sheriff and the governor to let him finish his prayers, his drink and his pipe. Indeed, the governor and under-sheriff joined him with the drink and the pipe. He then went to the gallows with all the gravity of a gentleman.